Engine controllers employing microprocessors are well known and have been commonly employed to control fuel injection and other engine systems in gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines. Generally, such controllers receive a variety of signals from sensors to determine, for example, the speed and/or position of the crankshaft, the mass flow rate of air entering the inlet manifold, the engine operating temperature, etc. The received signals are processed by the engine controller which then produces signals controlling the operation of the fuel injectors and/or other aspects of the operation of the engine.
While significant performance and operating economy improvements have been obtained from such engine controllers, problems do exist when attempts are made to further improve the performance and operating economies achieved with these systems. In particular, present engine controllers do not obtain or process, with sufficient accuracy, the angular position of various engine components, such as camshafts and/or crankshafts and this failure limits the performance achieved by such controllers.